Well, this novella has me hooked.
This book begins in 1889 Seattle, but it’s a Seattle of shifters. Native shifters called the Kivani are fierce, but few. They have been living amongst humans, and for the most part, happily intermingling.
The chief is very welcoming to the new peoples, recognizing that if they are to survive, they can’t hide, they’ll have to learn to adapt. However, not all of his people feel the same. This is brought to the forefront as the Drekar (Dragons) move in. The Drekar are their natural enemies, and the Kivati hunted and killed them all years ago, but they don’t realize the new Norsemen who are moving to Seattle are Drekar. At least not at first.
Alice, the Kivati Raven Lord’s daughter, sees a beautiful man and knows she will marry him. It’s just part of her. She knows he is IT for her. So she convinces her father to host a ball to welcome their new guests.
Brand is in debt to his Drekar regent (isn’t everyone?), but his chance to move to Seattle is about new beginnings. When he finds out Norgard’s true reasons for moving there, he just wants to repay his debt and go on his way. His debt is to duplicate the deadglass, something his father made to enable him to see ghosts.
Alice and Brand have a swift romance, but when Alice finds out he’s Drakar, she believes his motives in wooing her were for her soul. Drakar are soulless. Kivati have dual souls-one for them, and one for their totem animal. The world-building and history is really great, and has a new concept for PNR.
The ending is really not an ending at all. It’s the set-up for the dystopian Seattle we see in Hearts of Darkness…
***Minor shift to talk about the next book***
…A modern Seattle, but the gates that keep the dead where they belong have crashed. Seattle is now a desolate, dark place where Norgard rules, and everyone owes him something. The dead have to pay the debts the living cannot, and the Kivani are fighting with Alice’s brother at the lead. But the Kivani are no longer the peaceful people who want to coexist with humans.
I really enjoyed this novella, and it sets up the next book really well, however you do not need to read this to enjoy the first book, and I think you could even read this after the first book and it would just add depth to that story.
